Fun in the Midnight Sun: June 2013

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06-25-13

On Monday, 6/24, we left the Island Princess by 7:45. Leaving the ship ran like clockwork, and soon we were on our way to the airport. After a short wait we boarded an airplane for Seattle, and then to Atlanta. We arrived in Atlanta at 9:00 p.m.. Terry and I caught a shuttle to Warner Robins, picked up our car, and were home by 2:15 a.m. Long day.

After a few hours sleep we woke and Terry went straight to the doctor. He was prescribed with ten more days of medication.

We are glad to be home. In just three weeks we are leaving for Cape San Blas, FL to spend a week with all of our children. We are already looking forward to our next trip.

Our view of Vancouver as we headed in to dock. Today was our first day of rain during the whole trip!

Champagne and Dirty Laundry

06-23-13

Sunday, our last full day on the ship. A whole day at sea.

This morning we were treated to a champagne breakfast from our travel agent. That was very thoughtful of her. Our fella from the kitchen spread out a cloth tablecloth on our sofa table. He poured our champagne and coffee and left a tray piled with goodies for us to enjoy. It was nice to sit there in the quiet, enjoy our breakfast, and enjoy the view as we glided thru the waters.

Today we piled all the dirty laundry into one suitcase, everything else in our other bags, and then just enjoyed the day. We are glad that we did the land travel first. The four of us played so hard that first week. It was good to sit back and relax this week, even if we did have to get up early a couple of mornings for excursions.

The whole trip has been just the greatest. It's like my brother-in-law, Dave, said....everywhere you turn there is beauty. We are so glad that we came to The Land of the Midnight Sun.

Lighthouse

Logs like this were common in the Ketchican area. They were seen all along the coast. Only native Alaskans are allowed to use them for firewood.

Yosemite of the North

06-22-13

We sailed 235 miles last night to reach Ketchikan this morning. Ketchikan is on an island. The city is 5.9 sq miles, with 1.5 sq miles of that water. The Ketchikan International Airport is located on a neighboring island, Gravina. This is the site of the famous Bridge to Nowhere, where a bridge was supposed to connect Katchican and Gravina. In 2005, after much national and international disputes, the Alaskan government choose not to build the bridge.

Ketchican is the fifth largest city in AK. Its economy is based on fishing and tourism, and it is known as "The Salmon Capital of the World." The city also has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles. The average rainfall is 152 inches and the average snowfall is 37 inches.

Our excursion today will take us to the Misty Fjords National Monument, an area called the "Yosemite of the North" due to its similar geology. Light colored granite, about 50 to 70 million years old, has been sculpted by glaciers that gouged deep u-shaped troughs throughout the monument. Punchbowl Cove was one such trough that we saw today; and it is really pretty. The walls of the valleys are near vertical and rise 2000-3000 feet above sea level and drop 1000 feet below it.

The scenery today was spectacular. And again, no rain, no clouds. We were told this just doesn't happen hardly ever.

The tour company that took us on this tour today was a family owned business. They were very accommodating and very informative in their presentation. Oh, a cool thing...the driver of the boat stood out on his deck and used a joy stick to guide the boat up to the dock and park it.

Our ride, the Island Princess

Goods are brought onto the island by containers aboard ships

The float plane business is good up here in Alaska

Eagle's nest in the wild

Like the glacial carvings

Granite rock in fjords

Punchbowl Cove

This was the only access to this house that we could see. Taking groceries and kids up these stairs....no, thank you.

All of this mountain was smoothed out by the retreating glacier, except for that little Hershey's Kiss on top because the glacier only was as tall as the bottom of the Kiss. Did that make sense?

You've heard the expression "tie off the boat?"

Floating dock

The town is built around the water

There are several salmon canneries in town

Now we know what happens when they malfunction

Not a scene we see in S GA

Totem Pole Road

Beached buoy

Clouds began to roll in as we left the harbor

Coming in for a landing

Float plane parking lot

Leaving Katchican

More granite cliffs

Valley carved by glacier

Mountain streams in the fjords

See the sun

Seals

Even Minnie and Mickey travel to Alaska

The closest thing to fast food

The Capitol of Alaska is Reachable Only by Boat or Plane

06-21-13

This morning we arrived in Juneau, the capitol city. And yes, it is reachable only by boat or airplane. And I must say float planes were flying right regularly in the skies, and the harbors were full of boat traffic.

Terry and I first went on a tour of a glacial rain forest, located in Tongass National Forest. Our destination at the end of the walking tour was Mendenhall Glacier. This glacier has receded 2.5 miles since 1500, with 1.75 of that since 1958. It was also in 1958 that Mendenhall Lake was formed.

The rain forest was very pretty There is a lot of moss throughout the floor of the forest and it expands up tree trunks and even over rocks. It is very thick. Many wild flowers were in bloom, including the beautiful lupine that we've been seeing for days, along with the dandelion. There were others, but I just can't remember the names. On the way to the glacier, we passed a kettle. A kettle is a shallow, sediment-filled body of water formed by retreating glaciers. It was very small and surrounded by beautiful flowers.
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After seeing Mendenhall Glacier, we boarded the bus for a short ride to a harbor. We hopped aboard a boat and went several miles out looking for whales. Our boat driver was a cool dude. During the summer he is in Juneau taking our tour groups to look for whales. In the winter months he lives in Hawaii and drives a boat for a whale research team. So, did we find whales? You betcha! We saw many whales and this guy was whooping along with the rest of us. And I don't think he was doing it just to get good tips. He was really enjoying himself.

On the way out to look for whales we passed a big hunk of rock that must have had 5 or 6 bald eagles on it. There were both mature and immature eagles. It takes about 5 years for a bald eagle to get the white head and tail, which indicates maturity.

We saw some whales and then we came upon a whole bunch of sea lions on rock next to the shore. It was neat as heck to hear those guys talking to each other and fussing at us for entering their territory. Some of them were realllllly big, too.

Our driver told us to watch one particular area where the water was bubbling. This indicated the whale was getting the fish to go into a ball, and then he would dive and scoop them up. Terry knew the whale was going to breach, or jump out of the water, and he got his camera all lined up for the shot. Just as it happened, some lady moved in front of him and he missed his shot of a lifetime. As you'll see below, he got the end of the jump. He was heartbroken. Dog!

This was a fun day.